Newbie to WSE, here I go!!

Its really not bad at all, we've been sitting out at the pool most of the night talking. No, we train 5 days/week. Yeah I'm gonna get my trainer here on your class' second week and take off from here. I'm looking forward to getting that 10k miles out of the way so I can get my own truck.

 

So far we've been working on straight line backing, alley dock and right hand turn on the yard. There's four of us right now and today we'd rotate about 45 minutes of driving each out in desert learning how to double clutch, upshifting, downshifting, etc. We're in an 04 FL with a 10 spd. We're also covering the pretrip in depth throughout the day.

Its been in the mid 100s so we're knocking off a lil early.

I'll post again at the end of the week. We've got some new students comng in on the 7th (dbook) So we'll be making room for them.

 

No they're adamant about using the clutch. However, the instructor said he doesn't think there's any standards left in the fleet. Everyone is automatic and the ones we get will be autos as well.

 

LOL that's a tough question, I'd say WSE isn't in the business of training students/employees how to drive only to have them leave. That might be an excellent question for another thread..lol

 

OK so end of week two. I'm having some difficulty with the 10spd. I've got the sequence of shifting down, but I'm being told I'm not finessing the shifter into gear, its more of a force. So I adjusted today and left the rpms get down to its sweet spot of about 1400 then shifting. That's helping quite a bit, but it seems that once I can't find a gear whether going up or down, I struggle some. So I'll rev up, and put it the shifter in a gear and it sounds really rough. Also, when in traffic, I'm making mistakes. There's so much going on that I'll either start my turn too fast, be too "agressive" in my turns in relation to the four wheelers, or I forget to look in the mirror and clear my off tracking. So I'm committing Monday to relax more and just let my training kick in.

Example:
Approaching a busy four way intersection turning left with a protected arrow. I ease out, the arrow turn red, then I get a green, I wait for traffic, in the middle of the intersection the light goes yellow, I rush it and start my turn fast I turn out, cutting off the "corner" of the turn and kinda round it, but I'm still in the outside lane. In the turn I shift, bring over to the left lane while looking in the mirror, move to right lane, instructor tells me to go back to the left after a bit, and I move over WITHOUT checking my mirror.

I felt like I was a lil frazzled over that turn, and I just moved without thinking.... Not good in my opinion.
But its coming along nicely, and I'm postive about my final week of driving.
The skills portion is going well, I'm doing great at straight line backing, right hand turn and alley docking. Just hope to do well on the road test. I think I can sharpen up my driving skills in heavy traffic once I get onboard with my OTR trainer..

 

Yes sir, I'm here all weekend, I'm in rm. 126. Do stop by and we'll visit. Just remember the odor of B.O. isn't me...lol, it was here when I got here and it lingers.....but yeah man, drop by I'll show you where the walmart is, the TA, and the yard. This 3day weekend sitting in my room will be fun, I'll look forward to some conversation!! See ya, drive careful.